Two words on this one: wow!  Alright, disclosure time: 1. “wow” is not two words.  2.  This isn’t really a grocery wine (unless your local grocery store is in an extremely well heeled area of Australia).  We managed to obtain a babysitter awhile back and while sniffing around for a new restaurant to try out I came across a reference to a members only club in downtown San Diego.  On a whim, I picked up the phone and asked if I could come in for dinner.  After bouncing around to a few people on the phone the director of member services agreed to leave some guest passes for us with the hostess.  Sweet!  When we arrived, I was surprised to discover a jacket was required.  Huh?  Listen, you might think this makes sense what with the members only thing but this is San Diego.  Dressing up here means Read the rest of this entry »

“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.”  -James Dent

We’ve got a couple of requirements for wine on a summer afternoon: cold, refreshing, unfussy and in our glass.  As the day winds down We’re not interested in seeing how a wine’s “bouquet matures”.  We’re more concerned with seeing how it helps a great afternoon mature into a great evening. Read the rest of this entry »

In our house the 4th of July means burgers will be hitting the grill.  With that decided we can devote all of our energy to determining what wines to have with dinner.  Usually, I’d stay up late for months trying to come up with the perfect pairing for our burgers (not really), tasting thousands of wines (I wish), eating hundreds of burgers (no comment).  This year though my fine friends over at Wine Spectator agreed to my request to write a couple of articles on the subject (I actually never spoke with them but I was thinking about it and then the articles were there so I still say it was my idea).  Included on their list of wines for the 4th are a few grocery store staples which you should have no trouble finding at the local Safeway, Kroger, Vons, Ralphs, etc.  Best of all there are a number of relatively cheap wines on the list with reds ranging in price from $11-$16 and whites from $9-$12.  Listed below are our picks from the Wine Spectator articles.  Enjoy and happy 4th! Read the rest of this entry »

Warning this wine could cause relationship issues!  Read on for details, but first a quick tangent:  A couple of years ago we were out to dinner with some friends and our waitress recommended a wine to us.  Very excited about the wine, the waitress came back seconds after pouring it asking how we liked it.  Someone mumbled something about it and the waitress said Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is here (even if the calendar still shows it being a month away).  And with summer comes warm weather, and with warm weather comes a desire to put off running the air conditioner for as long as possible, and with no a/c comes a house which is broiling by evening, and with broiling comes a need for a cool refreshing drink.  Some might say water is a logical choice but those people have clearly never had a tall cool glass of Kim Crawford. Read the rest of this entry »

Like an old friend you can count on in a pinch, we turned to the Edmeades Zinfandel after the Rijckaert Chardonnay debacle.  This California wine has become our favorite zin of late, the one which all other zins are being judged by.  Very tasty and goes with any meal we’ve throw at it (confession: Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve probably spotted this one on the bottom shelf at your local grocery store with a price somewhere under $4.  Four dollar wine?  I figured there was a decent chance I might go blind from drinking the cheap stuff but in the name of science (and cheapskatedness) I thought I’d give it a try.  Because of the inherent danger involved in drinking this stuff Read the rest of this entry »

Mmmm, my taste buds are watering just thinking about Gloria Ferrer champagne.  It’s one of our all time favorite grocery store finds (and occasionally makes an appearance at Costco).  Always under $20 and we’ve snagged it on sale at Vons for under $15.   It’s a delicious sparkling wine which is such a good deal we have no qualms breaking it out for even the most minor celebrations.  Listed below are four of the reasons we’ve used to break out the bubbly Read the rest of this entry »